Settlement approved by court

Feb. 14, 2008:

Bankruptcy Judge Judith K. Fitzgerald approved the settlement between the four Bluebeard Castle Associations and the Developer today.

TENTATIVE SEETLEMENT REACHED!!!

The 4 Associations of the Castle have reached a tentative settlement agreement with Equivest St. Thomas (ESTI aka Fairfield/Wyndham/Cendant). Details to follow when they can be released pending court approval from the bankruptcy judge where ESTI filed bankruptcy.

Villas 1 election results 2007

The Board remains the same:
Dick Fleck, Darwyn Harris, and Ruth Matoon

Hilltop 3 results for 2007

The results of the Villas III election held in Andover, Massachusetts, on October 13, 2007 are as follows:
Elected Board
Members (2):
*Julius Van de Voorde 316 votes
* Kenneth Gardner 306 votes
John Enrietto 78 votes

* winner of election

Developer Appointments (3)
Pedro "Peter" Hernandez (Developer employee), Gary Hyde (Developer employee), John Enrietto

Pirates Pension 2007 election results

Ira L. Frank 244 votes
Darrin T. Hamilton 203 votes
Richard J. Cornell 44 votes
Carol Keltch 38 votes
Edward Funk, III 35 votes

Since there were two seats open for election, Ira Frank and Darrin Hamilton were re-elected for a second Board term.

The Developer (Wyndham/Fairfield/ESTI) appointed Hugh Rosenblum, Gary Hyde, and Pedro "Peter" Hernandez to the Board. They are all Developer employees.

Hilltop election results for 2007

Candidate Number of Votes Percentage

Richard J. Cornell 502 18.21% *

Ira L. Frank 501 18.16% *

Kenneth N. Drew 498 18.06% *

Nicholas D. Goodpaster 497 17.99% *

Peter Davitt 494 17.91% *

Scott Williams 324 11.7%

Mark Farrell 312 11.19%

John Enrietto 312 11.27%

Charles Keltch 311 11.18%

Leonard Caiger 304 10.98%


* designates winner of the election

2007 Annual meeting election results- Hilltop 3

The results are in for the latest round of elections.

Hilltop 3 was held he results of the Villas III election held in Andover, MA, on October 13, 2007 are as follows:
Elected Board Members
Julius Van de Voorde and Kenneth Gardner

Developer (Wyndham/Fairfield/ESTI) Appointments:
Peter Hernandez (Wyndham employee), Gary Hyde (Wyndham employee), John Enrietto

Hilltop, Villas 1, and PP 2007 annual owners meeting

These meetings will be held Oct 20, 2007 at the Embassy Suites (Airport) in Philadelphia, PA.

The proposed schedule shows 45 minutes between meetings, instead of the 30 minutes scheduled last year. This will help to keep things more organized and will allow for Owners who remain after their meetings conclude to have questions answered before the next meetings commence.

This will also allow time for the hotel staff to refresh the food and beverages between meetings. The schedule would look like this:
Pirate’s Pension: Registration – 7:30 a.m. Meeting – 8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Hilltop Villas: Registration – 9:45 a.m. Meeting - 10:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Villas I: Registration – 12:30 p.m. Meeting - 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Annual Meeting for Hilltop 3

The Hilltop 3 owners annual meeting will be held on October 13, 2007 in Andover, MA at the Wyndham Boston Andover Hotel. Please attend if possible.

2006 Annual meeting videos available

Thanks to fellow owner Ron Isreal for this service. You are strongly encouraged to purchase this video.
*************

Saturday October 21st was a very interesting day at the Bluebeard's Castle Annual Meetings in hiladelphia. DVDs and VHS tapes are now available for those owners who could not attend the meeting.

In order to make them accessible to all, the price including handling and postage will be reduced to $ 15.00 each this year.

Please let me know which disc or tape you wish to order:

BLUEBEARD'S CASTLE VILLAS I
BLUEBEARD'S CASTLE HILLTOP VILLAS
PIRATES PENSION
If you wish to order more than one, the cost will be
Any two DVDs or VHS tapes $25.00
All three DVDs or VHS tapes $ 30.00

As a Bluebeard's Castle owner, I do not charge our organization anything, and I send free copies to the all board members and SPM.

Send your order to

RON ISRAEL
BEHIND THE SCENES
7918 31st STREET
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 21237
e-mail: potchki@verizon.net

2006 Annual meeting: recap with results

The annual meeting for Hilltop, Villas 1, and Pirates Pension was held on Saturday October 21, 2006 at the Embassy Suites at the airport in Philadelphia.

The results for the elections are as follows:

Villas 1 had no quorum thus the Board remains unchanged- Dick Fleck, Darwyn Harris, and Ruth Matoon

Hilltop had a quorum and although the USVI statues dictates that votes should be based on percentage ownership, a recent court ruling allowed Mr. Enrietto and Mr. Farrell to have one vote per unit week as the basis for the election thus enabling only 8 owners to have a block of 468 votes (the largest vote tally was only 664) whereas % voting would have reduced this amount to about half as many votes. This will be further debated in the courts but for now the Board consists of IRa Frank, Dick Cornell, Ken Drew, Mark Farrell, and John Enrietto. Without the court ruling and the ability to follow the USVI statues, the Board would have remained unchanged leaving Pete Davitt and Nick Goodpastor on the Board.

Pirates Pension had a quorum and the although the prior Board was completely replaced by owners votes, Fairfield decided that they could appoint 3 Board members thus they appointed FF employee Hugh Rosenblum along with prior Board members Carol Keltch and Ed Funk. Ira Frank and Darrin Hamilton were the two highest vote getters thus they are now on the Board. The issue of "never sold units" will be debated since Fairfield used this to claim that they could appoint.

The Hilltop 3 Board meeting was held in Atlantic City on the same day. Rick Scott and Julius "Butch" Van de Voorde won by a huge margin over the previous members, John Enrietto and Mark Farrell but Fairfield took advantage of their appointing power to appoint them back to the Board with Peter Hernandez (a FF employee and member from last year).

Please join the Yahoo group for the Castle and be informed:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bluebeards/

--

Trial date set for HOA case vs. Fairfield

An order was entered in the Homeowner Association case against Fairfield Resorts et al. setting a trial date in May 2008.

Mediation is to take place no later than January 31, 2008.

Dates have been set in the scheduling order to complete merit fact discovery, expert discovery and motion practice.

The judicial system is working and the owner's legal strategy is working nicely. Fairfield's delaying tactics are beginning to run out of time.

The current Hilltop Villas Board consists of Ira L. Frank, Kenneth N. Drew, Richard J. Cornell, Nicholas D. Goodpaster and Peter I. Davitt. It is hoped that owners will continue to support this owner elected Board and support their re-election as your Board of Dirctors.

Annual Meetings announced for Hilltop, Villas 1, and Pirates Pension as well as Hilltop 3

The annual meetings for Hilltop, Villas 1, and Pirates Pension will be held October 21 (Saturday), 2006 at the Philadelphia Embassy Suites located at the Philadelphia Airport. The airport location was chosen since it provides owners easy access since many low budget airlines fly there (Southwest, for example). The exact time has not been determined but the tentative start time is 9am for the Hilltop meeting followed by the Pirates Pension meeting and then Villas 1.

Look for further announcements on this site as well as the Yahoo Group list for Bluebeard's Castle. All owner's should sign up accordingly!

***************

Hilltop Villas III annual meeting will be held with the Beach Club on Oct. 21 in Atlantic City. Details to follow

LEGAL DOCUMENTS: complaints vs. Fairfield

These are the current complaints against Fairfield Resorts. As most are aware, Fairfield has refused to arbitrate or mediate thus the lawsuits must move forward. Sadly, Fairfield believes that the current owners that serve the Boards do not want to settle. This is completely wrong and the owners that serve the Boards that were elected with owner votes (not Fairfield votes) are more than willing to discuss matters. Read for yourself the complaints and take note.

http://www.bluebeards-castle.com/BBC_HOA_ammended_complaint.PDF

http://www.bluebeards-castle.com/BBC_HOA_complaint.PDF

Enjoy.

ANNUAL MEETINGS: results from elecions

The results for the recent elections are below. As you are aware, the meetings were held in two different locations at two different times. For ease, the final results are displayed below:

Hilltop

Ken Drew
Ira Frank
Dick Cornell
Peter Davit
Nick Goodpastor

---

Villas 1
Richard Fleck
Darwyn Harris
Ruth Mattoon

---

Hilltop 3

Peter Hernandez (Fairfield employee)
Scott Nassar (Fairfield employee)
Mark Faretti (Fairfield employee)
John Enrietto (nominated by Fairfield)
Mark Farrell (nominated by Fairfield)

---

Pirates Pension

Troy Engle (appointed by Fairfield)
Ray Arendt (appointed by Fairfield)
David Stamm (appointed by Fairfield)
Ed Funk
Carol Keltch

---

Hilltop Proxy: available here UPDATED 9/28/05

Some owners have asked for another blank proxy for Hilltop Villas. It is posted here for your downloading pleasure.

http://www.bluebeards-castle.com/Hilltop_proxy2005.pdf

OR

CLICK HERE

Please note that you need Adobe Reader to see this and print this file.

OWNER MEETING INFORMATION

GET THE VOTE OUT THIS YEAR MORE THAN EVER. OWNERS NEED TO STAY UNITED AND KEEP (or REGAIN) BOARD CONTROL. OWNERS SERVE OWNERS better than Developers serving owners. Beware of Fairfield sponsored campaign letters and proxies and read all literature carefully. Be informed. Stay informed. Thank you!

The 2005 ANNUAL MEETING for Hilltop and Villas 1 will be Saturday OCTOBER 8, 2005 at the FOUR POINTS by Sheraton in Baltimore (near the airport).

The 2005 ANNUAL MEETING for Hilltop 3 will be Saturday OCTOBER 22, 2005 at the Skyline Tower Resort in Atlantic City, NJ at 6PM.

The 2005 ANNUAL MEETING for Pirates Pension will be Saturday OCTOBER 22, 2005 at the Skyline Tower Resort in Atlantic City, NJ at 3PM.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE- TELL ALL OWNERS AT THE CASTLE ABOUT THIS LIST and be an active owner. PLEASE SUPPORT INDEPENDENT OWNERS FOR THE BOARDS!

SPM selects new GM for the Castle: June 6, 2005

FROM SPM:

We are pleased to inform the Board that SPM has selected a new General Manager for the Bluebeards Castle Associations.

We have chosen Edwin Millan as the new General Manager after carefully reviewing and interviewing several candidates.  Edwin is the successful candidate due to experience in both Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.  Edwin comes to us with impeccable references and has demonstrated excellent verbal and written skills in both English & Spanish. We feel that Edwin’s proven leadership skills as well as his emphasis on Facility Management makes him the ideal candidate to lead the Bluebeards Castle team toward a bright future.

Please join us in welcoming Edwin who will be arriving in St. Thomas on June 6th with his wife and 3 children.

EXTRA NIGHTS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE CASTLE

Some owners have complained that they have been told that there are no rooms available at the Castle.

Owners are being sent to the Elysian or the Beach Club thus removing any chance of getting revenue for the associations.

Please if you need extra nights or a weeks stay , please contact SPM, as there are rooms and weeks available, call 1-340-774-1600 ext. 6000

SPM RENTAL AGREEMENT FORM: now available online

ATTENTION OWNERS

Are you planning on trying to rent your unit?

If you would like SPM to do so, please download the rental agreement that is now available online.

PLEASE NOTE: there are NO GUARANTEES that your unit will be rented. You must check to see for yourself. If you are a member of RCI (like I am), you can withdraw your rental and bank your week accordingly through RCI. I allowed SPM the chance to rent my unit but determined that it was NOT going to rent for the full week, thus I withdrew my rental and deposited the week into the RCI spacebank.

REMEMBER- it is up to YOU (THE OWNER) to follow up.

click here for SPM rental agreement

NOTE: you need Adobe Acrobat reader to see this form

Timeshare Calendar now available

Many owners ask the question "When does my week start?"

Now you can look at this site and find out. Go to the FAQ section or click on this timeshare calendar link to view it.

RCI SPACE BANKING AT THE CASTLE- more information

In order for RCI to accomodate Bluebeards' two management companies, it has split our property into 4 different RCI resort ID numbers. Specific unit numbers are now listed under each resort ID number. When you bank with RCI, the RCI Vacation Guide must bank the unit under the proper Resort ID Number.

Here is a Key:

RCI ID 0796: Bluebeard's Castle Pirates Pension units 392-422 (managed by Fairfield)

RCI ID 7640: Bluebeard's Castle Villas I units 155-175 (managed by SPM)
RCI ID 7654: Bluebeard's Castle Villas I & II units 214-267 & 300-330 (SPM)
RCI ID 7655: Bluebeard's Castle Villas III units 100-154 & 200-210 (SPM)

Maintenance Fees must be prepayed for the year you are banking. Please contact the appropriate management company, Fairfield/Equivest at 800-225-3522, or for SPM call JURIANE CHITOLIE at 340-774-1600 ext 6002.

If the RCI Vacation Guide experiences difficulty or tells you that your unit is in 'Pre-sale', they are not banking your unit under the proper Resort ID number. RCI has an explanation of this procedure in it's 'Resort Notes' computer screen for its employees to use as a reference.

RCI ID NUMBERS HAVE CHANGED- please make note

Some owners have had difficulty in making spacebank deposits due to some issues regarding the RCI Resort ID numbers. In short, RCI now has four separate numbers for the Castle based on the Association you belong to. They are:

0796 - Pirates Pension
7640 - Bluebeard's Villas I
7654 - Bluebeard's Hilltop I and II
7655 - Bluebeard's Hilltop III

NOTE that 0796 was the Resort ID number for the entire Castle originally and, if you are like me, that is part of your RCI number. That has now changed as shown above. The hope is that RCI will send out new ID cards or a communication to all owners indicating this change.

Thank you-

Ken Drew

INFO: lawsuit vs. Fairfield now online (filed 11/15/04)

For those interested, you can now download the 47 page lawsuit that was filed on November 15, 2004 in St. Thomas by the Boards on behalf of owners in Hilltop 1 and 2, Hilltop 3, and Villas 1. It can be found by clicking here.

If you wish to download this, please right hand click and save to your hard drive. You will need Acrobat Reader to read the document.

Owners wanting to rent their units, PLEASE READ

SPM is now ready to rent your units and make extra nights available. Owners of Hilltop Villas 1 and 2, Villas 1, and Hilltop Villas 3 should contact the resort by phone at 340-774-1600 extension 6000 to obtain a rental agreement either faxed or sent to them via mail.

There is no guarantee that your unit will be rented so be sure to follow up and, if an RCI member, bank your week at least two weeks prior to its use date after you cancel your agreement with SPM. There is also a chance that only a few nights may be rented out so please understand this before you agree to rent.

BBC: Updates 11/05/04- pool/road/Dungeon Bar/Mon. Party

The following update is for Bluebeard’s Castle as of 11/05/04:

- Holes in the road and around the property were filled Thursday, November 4, 2004

-The swimming pool will be fully operational as of 12 noon on Saturday, November 4, 2004

- Dungeon Bar tentative opening will be end of November 2004

-Monday Night Party – Lucinda (a watercolor artist) will be selling and signing matted art work as of Monday, November 22, 2004. Lucinda has done two (2) wonderful watercolors of the Castle’s turret which will made into post cards and prints.

POOL CLOSURE until 11/06/04

Dear Owners:

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Castle’s swimming pool will out of commission for the next week (till at least 11/6/04) barring any inclement weather.  Identified cracks were found in the bottom of the pool and the contractors will need to cement these areas, let it dry, then add epoxy paint, then let it dry once again (3-5 days of epoxy drying for proper sealing).
 
 A complimentary shuttle is provided for all guests to the Beach Club daily from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm; leaving the Castle’s Shuttle Stand every hour on the hour and the Beach Club’s Shuttle Stand every hour on the half an hour except at 3:30pm, but will leave at 4:00pm instead.  
 
Please contact Chris Forbes should you have any questions.
 
Chris Forbes
General Manager - St. Thomas
PO Box 7480
St. Thomas, VI  00801

OPEN LETTER TO OWNERS

This open letter to owners is from the Hamm and Barry who represent Hilltop Villas 1 and 2, Hilltop 3, and Villas 1. You are encoraged to consider this letter as well as others when deciding who to vote for in the upcoming election.

The letter is available in pdf format thus you need Acrobat Reader which is a free application that allows you to read text files.

http://home.comcast.net/~ken.drew/bbc/HB_letter_owners_092804.pdf

The ball is now in Fairfield's court.

Regards,

The Boards of Hilltop Villas 1 and 2, Hilltop 3, and Villas 1

Online proxy available

For those who have not received their proxies, there is an option available to you. If you feel confident that the current Board of Hilltop 1 and 2 have served your best interests, you can assign your proxy to Ira Frank, president of Hilltop 1 and 2. Go to:

http://www.bluebeards.net/Proxy.html

This will allow Ira Frank, president of Hilltop 1 and 2, to vote for you at the meeting. As in the past, it is clear that his intentions are for the best of the Castle. No hidden agendas as seen in the Spygalss newsletters.

If you feel that this option is not good for you, please contact Fairfield Resorts and ask for Karin Dutton to get your proxy.

Property Tax info: who to call and find out what you owe

Thanks to owner Jim S. for passing this information along. This may hep owners get the answer they need. Please read the e-mail that Jim sent me below.

"The process of resolving the tax issue was pretty much what we all might expect in the islands and yet somehow charming, in its own way.

I called the telephone number noted in "The Spyglass" and was able to have the incorrect address that they had on file corrected.  Could I be informed of the amount in arrears?  Oh, no...  Another call to a different number and several steps through an automated phone system  and one person lead me to Ms. Culpepper.  She's a charming lady who really can find the information on file... with some time.  Once she had found the information on my parcel numbers, she paused for a moment and then suggested that I call back the next day as she "was going to have to do some calculatin'."

I called back the next day and Ms. Culpepper was immediately on top of the information.  She mentioned a 50% discount on interest that is being offered
now (?).  As noted in the newsletter, I was somewhat surprised to find that there was a $117.28 difference in the amounts owed on the same unit over the same period of time!  Ah well...

You might mention to owners who are chasing back tax information that they might try calling Ms. Culpepper directly at (340) 774-4750, ext. 2205.  She can't change an address, but she can find the amount owed."

Again, thanks to Jim for finding Ms. Culpepper. We hope this helps owners out.

Regards,

Ken Drew

INFORMATIVE ARTICLE REGARDING WEEKS vs. POINTS

This link is for information only. It gives a nice take on weeks vs. points.

Click on:

http://www.thetimesharebeat.com/jerry.htm

(NOTE: as this link expires, you will need to look for the 08/13/04 article)

Enjoy!

Dining at the Castle: Hours of Operations

The following are the hours of operations for the Food and Beverage outlets for the rest of the year 2004:

Bluebeard’s Castle:

Room With A View: Annual Vacation Closing: August 1 - 29, 2004. Re-opens on Monday, August 30, 2004 (Dinner Only)

Banana Tree Grille: Annual Vacation Closing: August 30, 2004 – September 27, 2004. Re-opens on Tuesday, September 28, 2004 (Dinner Only)

Pool Bar: Will remain open for Breakfast and Lunch only; 8:00am – 5pm daily.

Dungeon Bar: Will remain closed till further notice. At this moment, we anticipate that the Dungeon Bar will be operational by the end of October 2004

So you want to be a Board Of Director (taken from Spyglass Sept. 2003)

So You Want To Be A Board Member?

HERE’S WHAT IS TYPICALLY EXPECTED

Being on the Board Of Directors (BODs) is a job. Make no mistake about it, our Resort was left in shambles from the Boards prior to October, 2002 as well as the former owners/developers of the Castle. The reason for it being a job is due to the large amount of work that has to be done to right the wrongs of the past. While it is a job, it does not pay one cent. You do this because you feel strongly about the condition of the Castle and you want to make a difference. There is no glory YET you can make a difference if you are willing to participate and communicate.

Two Key Words: PARTICIPATE AND COMMUNICATE

Since our Resort is made up of four Associations, there are four Boards. It is often asked "why don’t we just have one Board?". The answer is simple: we cannot. Due to the way the declaration and by-laws were written, we would need every single owner to vote "yes" to establish one Board. Considering that every owner does
NOT return proxies or ballots AND that we do not have address for several owners who owe back maintenance fees, it is an impossible task. Thus we must move forward and try to function as one although, technically, we are four. We can only due this by participation and communication.

There are many issues that are common to all Associations and there are some issues that are unique to one Association. For instance, the budget is common to all yet in Hilltop Villas 1 and 2, there issue involving whole-unit ownership is a topic of discussion.

Any Board member must have an e-mail account and must be proficient in using e-mail. This means that you understand who to download and open attachments, respond to e-mails, copying by either cc. OR bcc. to fellow BODs, etc. There is nothing more annoying than asking your fellow BODs for their input on an issue
and receiving no responses- positive or negative. You must be willing to participate in conference calls. On the Hilltop Villas 1 and 2 Board, we have had numerous conference calls starting immediately after the elections last October.

You must be willing to complete a task that is assigned. As a BOD, you may be asked to obtain quotes for insurance, laundry service, hurricane shutters, pool maintenance, compare Interval International to RCI as a trading company, etc. Currently, we have seen no proof that there has been any competitive bidding being
done on the owners behalf by our current management company Fairfield (formerly RCI-RM) thus we have decided to investigate ways to lower our costs and in turn we hope to lower your maintenance fees. If a BOD cannot do his or her job, they should step down whether it is due to health reasons, job related issues, or personal issues.

You are doing your Association and fellow owners and BOD members a disservice by sitting idly by and not responding to emails or conference calls. If one of my fellow Board members was not actively participating in the business of Hilltop Villas 1 and 2, I would personally ask them to step down. I would step down if I
could not continue to do this job.

If you want to become an active owner, you do not need to serve on the Board. The BODs is constantly looking for owners who are willing to help accomplish a variety of tasks. For instance, we have an owner engineer who is seeking quotes for hurricane shutters in the hope of lower our insurance costs. Your Board is always looking for input and help in determining what is best for the Castle.

This year’s owners meeting will be held on Saturday October 9, 2004 at the Airport Hilton in Philadelphia. We hope that this will provide an opportunity for more owners to attend since it will be on a Saturday unlike past years.

In closing, there is a call for nominations due August 13, 2004. If you feel you can make a difference, please run for your association’s board. As an owner, you should look back at all the Spyglass newsletters and read the President’s Corner sections. Compare what is going on in your association to other associations. If you feel that your association has been represented well, then you may not feel inclined to run. If you see that your association has been lacking in its efforts to represent you as an owner and you feel that they have not completed as many tasks as another association’s board, then submit a nomination and make a difference.

Regards,

Ken Drew
VP of Hilltop 1 and 2, Spyglass editor

ANNUAL MEETING: 10/09/04 [DATE ADDED June, 28th, 2004]

The 2004 ANNUAL BLUEBEARD'S CASTLE OWNERS MEETING will be Saturday October 9, 2004 at the Airport Hilton in Philadelphia. This is Columbus Day weekend so some people may have Monday off. The hotel runs shuttles to and from the airport. As more information becomes available, it will be posted here as well as on the Yahoo e-mail list, in the Spyglass newsletter and on http://www.bluebeards.net/

Thank you and we hope to see you there.

Deeding issues

To: Charles Monserrat

From: Jeff Cohen, Kim Thompson
Date: 11/20/2003

There are several issues relating to the deeding of interval interests of which you should be aware. As you know, the timeshare resort is generally governed by a Declaration and set of By-Laws. These documents speak, in part, to when specific interval interests may be deeded. Due to certain technical problems with those documents, our ability to issue and record deeds has been impeded. Attorneys for Equivest St. Thomas, Inc. (Seller) and your owners association are working to resolve these issues, and a resolution is anticipated shortly.

A second issue relates to your responsibility, as an owner, to make payment for real property taxes. At such time as you have made payment in full for your interval interest, Seller will commence the process of providing you with a deed. From that time forward, you shall be responsible for making payment of the real property taxes due upon your individual interval interest.

Finally, due to the limited resources of the USVI government, only a small number of deeds are accepted and/or recorded on a daily basis. Although clearly not under our control, this fact significantly increases the time within which a recorded deed can be delivered to owners.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF ANNUAL MEETING

ANNOUNCEMENT OF ANNUAL MEETING Sat. Oct. 18, 2003

The annual owners meeting will be held on Saturday October 18, 2003 in Hartford, CT at the Hastings Hotel. The Hastings Hotel agreed to honor the $79 per night room rate for the 16th, 17th and 18th of October. You may call at any time now and let them know you are with the "St. Thomas Board Meeting" group. The phone number to the Hastings is (860) 727-4200. The Boards hope that the Saturday meeting will allow more owners to attend. See you all there!
 
BOARD OF DIRECTORS NOMINATION FORM:

Association:
NAME:
ADDRESS:
CITY/STATE/ZIP
PHONE (day/night/cell):
e-mail:
unit number:
owner since:

BIO: (50 words maximum)

Return by September 10, 2003 to:
BBC Nominations
C/O: Karin Dutton
Fairfield Resorts Inc.
8427 South Park Circle, Suite 500,
Orlando, FL 32819
Fax : (407) 248 4561
e-mail: Karin.Dutton@Fairfieldresorts.com

PLEASE NOTE: Your maintenance fees must be paid in full to run for the board in your association. If you are not paid in full, your nomination will not be accepted as it is your responsibility to pay your fees on time.

Past News Archive

Banana Tree Grille: Tuesday - Sunday 6pm - 10pm

Fergie's Restaurant is still open for breakfast 8-11am ; Pool Grill is open for lunch 11am - 5pm; Dinner presently for the summer is only sandwiches and pizza.

Room With A View: Currently operating as normal

Click here to view our list of improvements

Click here for Bluebeards Castle Owners' legal defense funds Newsletter
_________________________________________

Dear Owners and/or Guests:

Warm greetings from beautiful St. Thomas.

It is with my great pleasure to inform you of our ongoing efforts to improve the jewel of St. Thomas, Bluebeard’s Castle. Part of these improvements is to the Castle’s pool deck which is in need of structural repairs.

As a result, the pool deck and the pool bar will be closed as of the first week in August 2003 through the last week in October 2003 (or until the repairs are completed which may be delayed due to inclement weather). During this period, a complimentary shuttle service to Bluebeard’s Beach Club & Villas Resort, and return trips, will be provided five (5) days per week (please see attached schedule).

Please also note that the “Room With A View” restaurant will be closing at the end of July and relocating to the present day Terrace Restaurant area. The new Room With A View will be reopening partially on September 1, 2003, after some improvements to the facilities have been made, and is scheduled to be fully operational by November of this year. The breakfast and lunch service currently provided at the Terrace Restaurant will be relocated to the Pirates Pub area, effective at the beginning of August. In summary, the Food & Beverage services to be provided at the Castle while repairs to the swimming pool complex are being made are as follows:

Limited Breakfast (8:00 am – 11:00 am):(daily)       Fergie’s Pirate’s Pub area

Limited Lunch (11:30 am – 5:00 pm):(daily)             Fergie’s Pirate’s Pub area
 
Bar Services (11:30 am – 12:00 midnight):(daily)      Fergie’s Pirate’s Pub area

Room With A View restaurant (5:00 pm – 1:00 am) (closed Sundays)     Closed July 22nd – Aug 31st Partial opening Sept 1st

Banana Tree Grille restaurant (5:00 pm – 10:00 pm)(closed Mondays)  Closed September 5th – October 5thAnnual vacation

For those Owners and/or Guests who wish to be relocated during the above dates, we suggest they contact either RCI, Owner/Member Services, and/or Extra Holidays for other available options at the following numbers:

Owner/Member Services: 
1-(800) 225-3522

RCI (Equivest properties): 
1-(800) 618-4794
 
Extra Holidays: 
1- (800) 446-1860

On behalf of Bluebeard’s Castle management and staff, we sincerely apologize for this temporary inconvenience. As a result of these needed facility improvements, we believe any future vacation experience will be an even more enriching, relaxing and the most pleasurable stay during the many years to come.

Sincerely,
 
Chris Forbes
General Manager – St. Thomas
_________________________________________

In late March we informed you of the fact that an engineering survey had detected structural deficiencies in the West side of the Main Hotel Building at Bluebeard's Castle and that operations at Room With a View and Fergies would be impacted as a result. We explained that this was very recent news and that the Boards would be kept informed of developments.

Since then, Fairfield has retained the services of a firm of structural engineers and a thorough survey of the entire area has been carried out. The results of this survey, including further laboratory analysis of the building's structural components, have concluded that the section of the building that houses the Room With a View restaurant will have to be demolished. A demolition plan has recently been completed and demolition has now been scheduled to commence in August. In the meantime, the area of concern has been temporarily shored up by the engineers in order to make it safe until demolition can commence.

The structure supporting Fergie's Restaurant has been deemed to be sound and a number of comparatively minor issues have been addressed in order to bring the facility into compliance with USVI codes.

Over the past few weeks, we have been conducting very extensive negotiations with the tenants of Room With a View and Fergie's in an effort to find solutions to the various issues that have arisen as a result of these previously unforeseen circumstances; our prime objective being to maintain the level and scope of amenities at the resort. These negotiations are quite advanced and we hope to be in a position to announce the outcome very soon.

In February of this year we provided the Boards with a list of the improvements to be carried out at the resort by Fairfield. That list included structural repairs to the area below the pool and the pool deck, as well as repairs to the pool deck itself. At that time, these repairs were scheduled to be performed between May and September, requiring the pool area to be closed during that time. The structural survey referred to above extended to the pool area and concluded that extensive repairs are necessary. It also recommended that the pool structure be temporarily shored up until the repairs could be made. This shoring up has been carried out and the repairs have recently been scheduled to commence in August, to coincide with the demolition of Room with a View. Starting these repairs in August also coincides with the low occupancy season, which reduces the potential incovenience to owners and guests. The repairs to the pool area are expected to be completed by November and alternative arrangements will be in place at Bluebeard's Beach Club for owners and guests who wish to have access to a pool facility during their stay.

With all of this very necessary activity taking place at the resort over the next few months, we will be doing our utmost to keep owners and guests informed and to take whatever measures are required in order to minimize any inconvenience. We will also keep the Boards informed of further developments on this subject.
 
Best regards,
Charles Monserrat

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